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StumbleStrip casinos post nearly 33 percent gain in February
Justin M. Bowen / File photo
Recent economic reports are beginning to show small signs of recovery on the Las Vegas Strip.
Published Thursday, April 8, 2010 | 7:26 a.m.
Updated Thursday, April 8, 2010 | 10:20 a.m.
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CARSON CITY – Buoyed by Chinese New Year and the Super Bowl, Las Vegas Strip casinos in February posted their biggest win percentage gain since November 1999.
The 41 casinos posted a gross win of $567.8 million, up 32.8 percent compared to the same month in 2009. Other areas in Clark County reported lower winnings for February compared to a year ago.
The Nevada Gaming Control Board reported today that statewide the win at casinos reached $946.6 million, an increase of 13.9 percent and only the second gain in the past 26 months.
Frank Streshley, chief of tax and licensing for the board, said this was the largest monthly increase statewide since December 2006 and the first double-digit increase since July 2007.
“It was a good month,” Streshley said.
Chinese New Year draws high-rolling players to the Baccarat tables, and Strip casinos reported record winnings of $205 million, up a whopping 255.2 percent. Streshley said the casinos also showed a win percentage of 17 percent in Baccarat in February, up from the traditional 12 percent.
Football betting on the Strip yielded $3.1 million, up 984.9 percent.
Chinese New Year shifts back and forth between January and February, but the full Super Bowl weekend fell in February this year. Last year, part of the football weekend was in January.
The board said downtown Las Vegas casinos won $42.2 million, down 5.7 percent; North Las Vegas casinos reported winnings of $22.3 million, off 14.4 percent.
Laughlin casinos took in $44.7 million, down 1.2 percent, but it was the smallest decline in the past 12 months. Boulder strip casinos won $61.4 million, off 2.2 percent. Mesquite casinos fell 5.8 percent to $10.5 million, but it also was the smallest decline in the past 12 months. Casino win in the rest of Clark County dropped 15.4 percent to $78.4 million.
On the Strip, which makes up 53 percent of the state’s total, the win from slot machines fell 8.5 percent to $207.9 million. The only slot to show an increase was the penny “one-armed bandit,” where the win grew by 8.7 percent.
The gaming board said win from Blackjack on the Strip fell 6.4 percent; craps grew 4 percent and roulette jumped 59.7 percent. Keno was off 10.9 percent but Pai Gow winnings increased 114.3 percent and the sports books posted an 11.3 percent gain.
For this fiscal year, tax collections are off 5.2 percent to $453 million, but Streshley said the tax collections are down because many of the high-end players on Baccarat wager on credit and make good on their markers in the coming months.
Streshley said there were positive signs in the slot machine play. The slot win statewide fell by 7 percent, but the amount wagered was $8.9 billion, down only 2.3 percent. “We are starting to see positive signs in the slot spending,” he said.
The board said casinos in Washoe County won $60.9 million, up 2.7 percent and the first gain in 32 months. South Lake Tahoe casinos fell 15.3 percent to $14 million; Carson Valley casinos reported winnings of $7.8 million, up 0.5 percent and Elko County casinos posted $23.7 million, up 0.58 percent.
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Reason why winnings have increased is the Strip Casinos have TIGHTENED slots and VP!!!!!!!!!! Just leave your money at the door.
the question is was there an increase in visitors in feb.?
no increase in visitors = slots are WAY tighter.
That's bad news for their customer's ! those slot's are super tight everywhere i never see anyone win anything descent anymore ......just stay home and save your money
They only collected 4.96% of that win total because much of the win was from chinese new year markers. Until that money is actually collected, the state doesn't collect the tax revenue.
Obama's visit paid off with new attention paid to Las Vegas. Thank you Mr President and Mr. Senator Harry Reid.
mred, if Obama handed you a road-apple pie I bet you would say "Thank you, sir! You not not fed me but it's already been pre-digested."
Let's have a report of what our convention business looks like for the last 2 years, including projected trend lines taking into perceived reaction to Obama's comments.
with the chinese property bubble about to collapse which will dwarf the current property collapse i would rather keep my cash under my bed
I'll agree completely that the last administration was a disaster on several issues.
But would the comparison you suggest, which would be a good one, show that other destinations might have fared even worse had Obama not made his comments? Let's face it, Vegas really is the best place to hold a convention or trade show.
I swore I saw a roulette wheel downtown with three ZERO pockets the other day!
liberals are funny.
when things are bad = bush's fault and obama can't do anything to change things...even though that's why we all say we voted for him.
things are good = obama did it...even though we just said 20 seconds ago that he'll never be able to correct the "mess" bush left him.
W00000-HOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!
Good times are back. Buy, Buy, Buy!!!!
Now you can get the FountainBlue for only 4.3 Billion!!!!
3/2 Home for only $569,000
1 bottle of beer $12.50
hoftx,
Two years ago Barack Obama wasn't even the president. It's bad enough that he's being held responsible for repairing the Bush economy, but now you want to hold him responsible for things that happened before he became president!
"no increase in visitors = slots are WAY tighter."
Not true. Slots are random. Visitors don't all spend the same amount of money.
OOOOOOOOOPPPPPPPPPSSSSSSSSS. I misread. The Chinese made up 90% of the win and they are gone. Bad times again. Revised Pricing:
FountainBlue $430,000 (Carl is selling it, even he can't make profit)
3/2 home: $76,900
1 bottle of beer: .75 cents
Dig a little into the stats and Baccarat made up the huge increase..slots are still down 7.85%
I'm guessing the number wont be quite as rosey for March
JohnF, you are correct. I was thinking of Obama's 2 comments made almost exactly a year apart. Even so, the data would have to go back at least 2 years to see a trend. One could take trend lines over the last 5 years at a minimum, 10 would be better. Heck, go for 20 and we can get the Clinton years in there, too.
This has to be Obama's fault doesn't, he gets balmed for everything around here!?!?
slots are random?
SLOTS ARE RANDOM?
haha.
ok, dude. time to lay off the bong.
which person actually WINS may be random, but the RATE at which those slots pay out is NOT random.
Happy to see blackjack numbers still down. People are sick and tired of getting screwed on those 6/5 games!
So they beat dreadful collapse numbers and we are almost back to pre-Wall Street Robbery levels..wow somebody alert the Sun.
Trouble is we still have 14% unemployment, record foreclosures, bankruptcies, short sales, RE prices half what they were 2 years ago, maybe 6 buildings and 2 full projects rotting in the Desert Sun.
But hey, slot revs are up, lol.
Thank god for Chinese "Gamblers"
I wouldn't put a single cent into these tighter than tight slot machines. I still like to play the pass line on a decent crap table now and again.
Strip up, rest of Nevada down. Proof of cannibalization of stagnant revenues by CC.
Actually the win % on slots was very low. The huge return was a very high level of baccarat play, coupled with the biggest win % in baccarat in over five years.
I am in the Casino business and we are seeing a huge improvement. Our numbers have stablized and are exceding last year. The visitors are here but they are still being tight fisted, but we can definitely see the light at the end of the tunnel. We have started hiring again. Added about 200 jobs and if things keep improving I do not see that stopping.
vc.....Thank you for your post!
The proof will be in the pudding.....that is, what happens over the next 6-9 months will tell the tale.... but its hard to deny the fact that things are looking up!
Please don't tell the Obama haters that, however.
They have their fingers crossed hoping that the economy continues to falter........that's the only way they can win come November!